The 18th Century Central Java has had a legion of female warriors to fight against the Dutch colonial soldiers. Rubiyah, a dancer from the small village of Matah, has a dream of becoming a princess. The beautiful girl keeps the dream within her spirit. One day, Raden Mas Said, a resilient warrior and lord whom Rubiyah adores wholeheartedly, passes the village. He is impressed by the beauty of Rubiyah.

Matah Ati opens with a vibrant showcase of female warriors, followed with the scented Rubiyah’s dream. The burnt incense quickly endorses a dreamy and mystical atmosphere inside the theater. On the 15-degree elevated stage with a 14-meter wide trap door, writer, director, costume designer, and producer B.R.Ay Atilah Soeryadjaya, creates a splendid sendratari – a Javanese form of opera – that displays the cheerfulness of a village, the sanctity of a meditation room, the horror of a battlefield, and the magic…